Clause 35 - General
Equality Bill [Lords]
2:30 pm
Meg Munn (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Sheffield, Heeley, Labour)
I had not intended to speak to this clause other than to answer questions, so I will confine my remarks to the matters raised by the hon. Gentleman. The definition of race used in the legislation follows that contained in section 3(1) of the Race Relations Act 1976, and we believe that it has stood the test of time. However, the Government are aware that as a result of the Race Relations Act 1976 (Amendment) Regulations 2003, which implement the EU race directive in UK law, some of the racial grounds are treated differently from others in the 1976 Act. For example, harassment is expressly unlawful only on the grounds of race or ethnic or national origins, not on the grounds of colour or nationality. That difference came about because the European Communities legislation under which the regulations were made can be used only to make provisions implementing EU obligations or dealing with related matters.
The Government intend to iron out those and other undesirable inconsistencies across the whole of discrimination law. The discrimination law review will be the appropriate place in which to deal with that and I look forward to hearing the hon. Gentleman’s considered contribution to the consultation on that. Other than to commend his Welsh friend for marrying somebody from Yorkshire, I have nothing to add.